Extraction of rubber.



D. VECCHINI.

THE ExTIIAcTIQN o'F RUBBER.. APPLICATION FILED APR. I7. I9I4.

Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

D. VECCHINI.

T HE EXTRACTIONOF RUBBER.

APPLICATION HLEDAPR. 17, 19-14.

11,1 59, 137. Patented Nov. 2, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Q\\\\\\\\` IIIIIS l I l llllllllllllllIl-llllllllllll I IH jl /ff/ mmApourrai) STATES PATENT onirica.

DOMINIQE VECOH-INI, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR, `:BY MESNASSIGNMENTS,.TO FBANCO-AMERICAN"RUBBER COMPANY, OF WILMINGTON, DELAWARE.

EXTRACTION OF RUBBER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

*Patented N 0V. 2, 1915.

Application filed April 17, 1914. Serial No. 832,670.

at New York city, in the State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Extraction ofRubber; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable' others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters or figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My inventionrelates to the extraction and withdrawal of rubberfromrubber-bearing plants 0r rubber-like bearing plants.

All processes now in existence for the extraction of rubber from guayuleshrubs are based on the principle of crushing and pulverizing the shrubsso as to obtain the separation of the rubber by flotation.

There are a great number of rubber plants wherein the rubber is inthelform of filaments, and not vesicles, -as in the guayule shrubs. If theguayule process 1s apphed to such rubber plants it is impossible toobtain the rubber, because the crushing and cutting Will necessarilyreducethe filamentsof rubber to such a state as to make it impossible toagglomerate them. I have discovered lthat the fibers composing the barkof such plants have great density, and the smallest quant1ty envelopingthe rubber will prevent the fiotation of the rubber, and,'therefore, theknown process of separating the rubber by fiotation, as in the guayuleshrubs, is not applicable to this kind of rubber plants or shrubs.

My process, which is very much unlike theguayule one, is that of Weldingthe rubber filaments together by pressure and fr1ct1on and the heatnaturally developed by the operation, thereby avoiding absolutely thecrushing andcutting of said filaments.

In none of the commlnutmg processes heretofore practised has it beenpossible to obtain a separation of the rubber by comminution only. Ihave discovered that if the plants be dried, the rubber filaments willnot shrink` to any appreciable degree, and wlll retain suiiicientplasticity to enable them to gather together, which fact may be takenadvantage of in a dry -separating process, to separate and agglomeratethe filaments. Water, steam or other fluids will wet the `the wood fiberand bark substances are reduced to a flour, While the rubber filaments,whlch are elastic, will not, be rubbed asunder,

Asurfaces of the rubber filaments and prevent but, on Athe contrary,will agglomerate into masses of considerable size, (lumps).` Theresulting, triturated product, is then thrown onto a suitable screen forseparating the lumps from thev dust.

One form of machine for carrying out my triturating process is shown inthe accompanying drawings, in Which- Flgure 1 l1sa vert1cal section,partly in elevatlon; Flg. 2 1s a detail view of the out-er .trituratingelement for the first stage; Figs.

3, 4, 5 and 6 are views illustrating, respectively, the innertriturating elements for the second, third, fourth and fifth stages, andFig. 7 is a detail view of ,a portion of the outer triturating elementthaty coperates with the elements illustrated in Figs. 3, 4,

5 and 6.

y Themachine comprises av frame l, having a cast iron bed-plate 2, onwhich is secured a step or bearing 3, containing a ball thrustbearing 4for the reduced end 5 of the grinding shaft 6, the upper end 7 of whichis provided With one or more triturating helices or spirals 8. Whetherone or more triturating helicesk 8 are used will depend, in general,upon the average size of the shrubs; for

longl ribs 17, Fig. .7, alternating with short ribs 18.

Coperating' with cone'14 are four connected truncated elements, 19, 20,21 and 22, arranged to form a single cone, the upper, smaller, element19 being held on shaft p ortion 6 by nuts 23, the truncated cones belngbolted together by bolts 24. The smallest element, 19, Fig. 3, isprovided with long and short ribs 25 and 26 spaced wider apart, the twofollowing elements, 20 and 21, Figs.

4 and 5, have similar ribs, 27, 28, 29, and 30,

respectively, spaced A closer together, while the last element 22, -Fig.6, has only long ribs diverging toward their lower ends.

rlhe shaft portion 6 is provided with a ball bearing 31, and below it,in the portion 5, is a miter-gear 32 driven by a mter-gear 33 on adriving shaft 34, mounted in ball bearings 35 and 36. The driving shaft34 carries a sprocket 37 for driving an elevator,

should one .be desired to carry the shrubs to the hopper. y

lt should be noted that none of the triturating ribs have sharp edges,as a shearing or cutting action is tobe avoided, and trituration onlyeected by the co-acting ribbed surfaces.

The shrubs, or only the barks, if desired, are preferably subjected to apreliminary crushing between two cylinders, rotating at the same speed.This operation has the ef: fect of crushing, without cutting, andwelding the rubber filaments between them, and in so doing raises to aconsiderable degree the facility of extracting thev rubber, by crushingthe inner stratum of the barks. The material is then fed into the hoppereX- tension 12 and is moved by blades 13 to the screw surfaces 8 and10., Thematerial is suiciently-tritur'ated between these surfaces tofeed between cones 14 and 19, 20, 21 and 22, issuing from the lower cone22 as a flour with which the agglomerated rubber is mixed. rThe vheatdeveloped in the triturating operation assists the agglomeration of therubber.

As stated above, the process is a dry process, and the mixed product ofthe triturating operation is separated by screening.

'Ehe extremely fine, powdered bark material, separated from the rubbermay be treated for the extraction of the tannin. rllhis is not possibleby the wet processes because the tannic acid is soluble in water.

I claim- 1. The method of separating rubber from rubber bearing plants,which comprises trituratng the shrubs or barks, while avoiding thegrinding and breaking of the rubber, at

successively increasing speeds and to suc-` cessively increasingineness, the triturating speedsbeing sufficient to frictionally heat therubber to agglomerating temperature.

2. rlhe method of separating rubber from rubber bearing plants, whichcomprises subjecting the shrubs or barks .to trituration graduallyincreasing in both speed of trituration and fineness `vrof material, thespeed of trituration being sufficient to heat the rubber toagglomerating temperature, the heat increasing with the speed and theineness of the material.

3. The method of separating rubber from rubber bearing shrubs or barks,which com` prises heating the rubberfilaments by subjecting the shrubsor barks to friction, simultaneously pressing the heated filaments toweld the latter together and comminute the remaining portion withoutcrushing or cutting said filaments, separating the welded filaments fromthe comminuted particles by screening, and extracting the tannin fromthe comminuted particles.

4. The method of separating rubber from rubber bearing plants and barksin which the rubber occurs in filamentous form, which comprisessubjecting the dried shrubs or barks to a triturating or rubbing actionbe- .tween suitable rotating surfaces without breaking or tearing therubber filaments, and at different speeds sufficient to graduallyyfrictionally heat the filaments vto agglomerating condition, andseparating the resulting rubber and powder.

5. The method of separating rubberl from rubber bea-ring plants, whichcomprises subjecting the shrubs or barks to trituration betweentriturating surfaces, the triturating speed and fneness of the materialgradually 'increasin the layer of material being triturate between saidsurfaces decreasing in thickness with the increase .in speed andfneness,said speed, fineness of grinding and thickness of materialbetween the surfaces proportioned to maintain a frictional heatsuficient to agglomerate the rubber.

\ 6. The method of extracting rubber which consists in drying rubberbearing shrubs or barks, crushing without grinding', the dried shrubs orbarks, subjecting the crushed material to friction, thereby heating therubber filaments, simultaneously subjectin the crushed material topressure lto we d the rubber filaments together and comminute theremaining portion of the crushed mate-V my invention, have signed myname in rial, separating by screening in a dry state presence of twosubscribing Witnesses.

the Welded filaments and comminuted mate- DOMINIQUE VECCHINI. rial, andextracting the tannin from the Sep- Witnesses: 5 arat'ed comminutedparticles. ABRAHAM N. LEVY,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as JACOB GEACUs.

